1960s - Definition and Overview

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s
Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

Contents

1 Events and trends

1.1 Technology
1.2 Science
1.3 War, peace and politics
1.4 Economics
1.5 Culture
1.6 Others

2 People

2.1 World leaders
2.2 Writers and intellectuals
2.3 Sports figures
2.4 Entertainers

3 Other

4 See Also

Events and trends

The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. Many of the trends of the 1960s were due to the demographic changes brought about by the baby boom generation and the dissolution of European colonial empires. (See The Sixties.)

Technology

USSR puts first man (Yuri Gagarin) and first woman (Valentina Tereshkova) in space
The United States puts man on Earth's Moon
Geosynchronous satellites revolutionize global communications
Start of the development of algorithmic information theory

Science

Discovery of plate tectonics revolutionizes understanding of continental drift
Rise of the science of ecology in the awareness of the intelligentsia

War, peace and politics

Cultural Revolution in mainland China causes political and economic chaos.
Nigerian Civil War begins
Six-Day War between Israelis and Arabs.
Beginning of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Berlin Wall built, in 1961
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Civil rights movement in the United States; end of official segregation and disenfranchisement of African-Americans
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Vietnam War and protests, leading to Kent State University shootings in May, 1970
Suppression of uprising in Czechoslovakia
The Stonewall Riots in New York City give birth to the gay rights movement, June 1969
United Nations imposes sanctions against South Africa in protest at Apartheid.
Students protesting perceived problems with the status-quo are suppressed with violence by police and soldiers in USA, France, Mexico, Czechoslovakia. See New Left.
The Quiet Revolution (Révolution tranquille) begins in Quebec - precipitous decline of the Roman Catholic church, liberalism, social-democratic programs, and the birth of modern Quebec nationalism
The rise of radical feminism

Economics

Many countries in Western Europe experience high economic growth (4 to 8% per year).

Culture

Worldwide expansion of surrealism.
Rock and roll develops, diversifies, and becomes very hip. The Beatles eclipse Elvis Presley and become the biggest band in the world.
2001: A Space Odyssey hits movie theaters.
James Bond movies begin. Dr. No is the first of the series in 1962, starring Sean Connery as Bond.
Hippies, drug culture & rock and roll converge at the Woodstock festival, 1969.
In the West, the growing popularity of religions other than Christianity (for example, as discussed in the writings of Alan Watts), and of atheism; Time Magazine asks: "Is God Dead?" See Fourth Great Awakening, Consciousness Revolution
Memorable expositions, or "World's Fairs," are held in Seattle (1962), New York (1964/1965), Montreal (1967) and San Antonio (1968)

Others

Post-Colonialism; many new or previously colonized countries achieve independence in Africa, Asia.
U.S. president John F. Kennedy assassinated in 1963; his brother Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in 1968.
U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated on April 4, 1968.
U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society program
In the United States, increase in crime; riots in Los Angeles in 1965 and Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
Rise of the baby boom generation to adulthood
First widespread availability of practical birth control pill for women; See sexual revolution
Sweden abandons driving on the left side.

People

World leaders

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (Canada)
Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson (Canada)
Chairman Mao Zedong (People's Republic of China)
President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China on Taiwan)
President Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt)
President Charles de Gaulle (France)
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (India)
Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri (India)
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (India)
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (Israel)
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol (Israel)
Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
Pope John XXIII
Pope Paul VI
Prime Minister Basil Brooke (Northern Ireland)
Prime Minister Terence O'Neill (Northern Ireland)
Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark (Northern Ireland)
Governor Luis A. Ferré (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico)
Taoiseach Sean Lemass (Republic of Ireland)
Taoiseach Jack Lynch (Republic of Ireland)
Nikita Khrushchev (Soviet Union)
Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)
Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom)
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (United Kingdom)
Prime Minister Harold Wilson (United Kingdom)
President Dwight D. Eisenhower (United States)
President John F. Kennedy (United States)
President Lyndon Johnson (United States)
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (West Germany)
Chancellor Ludwig Erhard (West Germany)
Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger (West Germany)
President for Life Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia)

Writers and intellectuals

Sports figures

Muhammad Ali (U.S. boxer)
Lance Alworth (U.S. American football player)
Nino Benvenuti (Italian boxer)
Jim Brown (U.S. American football player)
Wilt Chamberlain (U.S. basketball player)
Bobby Charlton (English soccer player)
Jim Clark (Scottish racing driver)
Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rican baseball player)
Bob Cousy (U.S. basketball player)
Eusebio (Portuguese soccer player)
Bob Gibson (U.S. baseball player)
Cookie Gilchrist (U.S. American football player)
Gordie Howe (Canadian ice hockey player)
Bobby Moore (English soccer player)
Joe Namath (U.S. American football player)
Sonny Liston (U.S. boxer)
Sandy Koufax (U.S. baseball player)
Floyd Patterson (U.S. boxer)
Frank Robinson (U.S. baseball player)
Willie Mays (U.S. baseball player)
Stan Mikita (Slovak-Canadian ice hockey player)
Bobby Orr (Canadian ice hockey player)
Pelé (Brazilian soccer player)
Bill Russell (U.S. basketball player)
Oscar Robertson (U.S. basketball player)
Garfield Sobers (Barbadian cricketer)
Alfredo di Stefano (Argentinian/Spanish soccer player)
Fred Trueman (English cricketer)

Entertainers

Other

Charles Manson